When you go to China or if you go, you have to have a guide. Not only do they speak the language, but they are a wealth of information. They know great places to eat, where the best shopping is, where to stay away from, etc. In the case of an adoption, they are great with the children. If you have an older child, you need someone who can translate between the family and the child.
On our three adoptions, we were fortunate to have the same guide. The third adoption, she was not assigned to us, but she was there during critical times. Words can not say enough about how great this person is to us. She has verbally sparred with people at the airport, she helped us with our 7 year old, etc. Even when she was not our guide, she and the family she was with helped us on the last trip.
I will say, not every guide is as great as Veronica. Our last trip, we had three different guides. One for each province. The one in Chengdu was okay. She seemed preoccupied with other things. I understand that. She was a working mother. She still did her job. She made sure we made it to our appointments and we did get to do some sightseeing. I wish it could have been more.
Our third province, our guide came down with an illness. Then, she had to break away from our group to assist another family that was not part of our group. In the end, she had her sister assist us at the train station because the agency had her doing other things. They still made sure we got where we need to be.
If you go, rely on your guide. They are there for you. I'd like to say we became friends with Veronica and consider her a part of our family. She has been there for our special times. She even got to meet Kayla. Try to bring extra cash for your guide. They work for tips. I do not know how well the agencies pay them. If you think they are worth it, tip them well.
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